Police Condemn ‘Disgusting’ Title of New Sitcom

The title of a new ITV sitcom centered on trainee police officers has sparked outrage from a police organization, labeling it as “disgusting” and “highly offensive.”

The comedy is named Piglets and is set in a police training college. The title references the derogatory term “pig” often used against police officers.

Upon learning about the show, Tiffany Lynch, the acting national chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, expressed strong disapproval. She stated that the name is “highly offensive to police officers risking their lives to protect the public every day, providing an emergency service.”

She further added, “It is a disgusting choice of language to use for the title of a TV programme.”

Lynch also expressed disbelief that such a title had been approved by ITV, an organization filled with individuals who might require police assistance at any given time. She described the title as “inflammatory against a landscape of rising threats and violence against officers,” emphasizing that police officers “deserve respect, not humiliation for the job they are undertaking.”

Lynch warned of the dangers associated with inciting more negativity and misinformation against the police, a public sector service currently under immense pressure. “It’s incredibly dangerous to incite more negativity and misinformation against a public sector service that’s already under so much pressure,” she said.

In response to the criticism, ITV issued a statement clarifying their intentions behind the show. They explained, “Piglets is a fictional new comedy about a police training academy. The title is not intended to cause any offence; it’s a comedic and endearing play on words to emphasize the innocence and youth of our young trainees.”

The show is created by the award-winning team behind popular comedies like Green Wing and Smack the Pony, featuring Sarah Parish and Mark Heap as the superintendents responsible for training the new recruits.

In a light-hearted promotion for the show, ITV said, “The government’s stated policy of recruiting 20,000 new police officers in double quick time has not come at the cost of lowering standards. Or has it?”

“Piglets follows a newly recruited group of six very different would-be cops and the handful of key staff whose thankless task it is to knock them into some kind of shape.”

The term “pigs” for police officers has a long history and gained popularity in the 1960s, particularly with its use by the Black Panthers anti-police protest group.